India-born Rajeev Suri: Know all about the likely new CEO of Nokia

NEW DELHI: As Nokia prepares for life without its iconic mobile phone business, the Finnish company is also preparing to welcome a new leader. According to European media reports, the next Nokia CEO could very well be 47-year-old India-born Rajeev Suri, currently the chief executive at Nokia Solutions and Networks.

Nokia is expected to make an official decision later on Tuesday when it is scheduled to announce the first quarter results and declare the cash it would pay out to shareholders. And that would be a few days after the company's deal to sell its devices business to Microsoft is closed. The deal closure, which is expected later tonight, has seen Nokia's head, Stephen Elop, move over to Microsoft.

Suri has been one of the top contenders for the spot, currently occupied by chairman and interim CEO Risto Siilasmaa, after he turned profitable the group's ailing networks division by massive restructuring and moving out of loss-making businesses. His India connect, some say, could also work in his favour as the South Asian nation- on the cusp of a major data driven growth - will see huge demand for telecom equipment which transitioning from 2G networks to 3G and the then 4G.

And if he is indeed named Nokia CEO, Suri's elevation will follow in the footsteps of another Indian-born, Satya Nadella, who was recently appointed as the head of, ironically, Microsoft. The new Nokia will have Nokia Solutions and Networks as its biggest business, making telecom equipment and managing networks of telcos; Here, a map service; and Advanced Technologies, a division which plans to build on Nokia's patents for developing technology and licensing it, as well as explores new business opportunities through R&D.

Born in 1967, Suri is one of the few top bosses in the business world who doesn't boast of a management degree from a pedigreed MBA institute. Graduated as electronics and telecommunications engineer from Mangalore University, India in 1989 and started his professional life as a production engineer at Calcom Electronics. After spending five years in ICL India and Churchgate Group, Nigeria he moved to NSN India as system marketing manager in 1995.

Within a decade he soared up the ranks to the position of senior vice president Nokia Networks Asia Pacific and on October 1, 2009 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Nokia Solutions and Networks (then Nokia Siemens Networks).

With more than 23 years of international experience, Suri is among the most powerful people in US' wireless and wireline industry. "In a culture dominated by Europeans, the kind of acceptability he has in the organisation is unseen," said a senior executive from a Delhi-based network provider.

"He's deeply respected among his colleagues and despite his age, the level of maturity he has, the authority he carries and his subject knowledge sets him apart from any CEO I've worked with," this executive added.

People who worked with Suri know him to be a go-getter, a hard-core salesman and one who 'does not beat about the bush' regarding anything. Some say that his charismatic personality coupled with his sharp intellect despite his limited educational background, took him far. But it was his completely scandal-free image that won him support of the company's top brass, industry insiders say.

"He's a fast, in thinking and taking actions," said a senior company executive, requesting anonymity. "And, he has a pictographic memory. You can't mess around with him," he said and added that Suri could easily catch even the smallest of changes in figures, during sales presentations.

Born to Yashpal and Asha Suri, Rajeev was raised in Kuwait for a major part of his life. He has lived in seven countries including India, Kuwait, UK, Nigeria, Germany, Singapore and Finland, where he lives today, with his wife Nina and two sons, while his parents are still in India.

Media-shy, Suri has made Finland his second home, where he drives a Masserati to work. He spends considerable time in the gym and reads up to five books a week. One of his favourite possessions apart is an IWC Schaffhausen watch, worth Rs 10 lakh, people close to him said.

Prior to being at the helm of the company, Suri was heading Nokia Siemens and Networks' services division from August 2007 until September 2009 from India, which contributes about half the company's revenues. Suri has been instrumental in driving the services business unit's revenue in the company to grow from less than a third to about half and he convinced the Group to create a new services hub in India, which paid back in the long run.

"He's a superb personality and relationships are his key strength. He's dynamic, sharp and thorough and I feel he has achieved much more than other Indians overseas in a very short span of time", said a senior level co-worker who did not want to be quoted.